Iowa Gov. Chet Culver will sign an executive order Wednesday to implement 40 cost-saving ideas.
Culver hired a private consultant to identify ways to save money throughout state government.
Public Works LLC’s report lists 90 ideas. Other measures will require legislative action, and some recommendations are under further review.
Culver will talk about [...]
If Iowa closes the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute or merges it with Independence’s institute, it would mean only “marginal savings,” and would raise expenses for the state prison that shares services on the same campus, Iowa’s human services chief said today.
It would cost as much as $2.6 million to [...]
A plan for how state lawmakers could close one of Iowa’s four mental health institutes will be released today.
Legislators last session ordered the director of the Iowa Department of Human Services to submit a plan to close one of the four mental health institutes and to consolidate services at any [...]
The forecast for state revenue: Iowa will bring in nearly $37 million less this year than expected this past fall.
But no more mid-year cuts will be needed in state government because the state coffers currently have a $188 million cushion, budget director Dick Oshlo said today. That means there will [...]
Shrink the number of managers in state government, merge some state agencies, use a master contract for state purchases – those are some of the recommendations a group of state lawmakers approved today.
A team of Democratic and Republican state lawmakers have been scouring for ways to shrink state government to [...]
Eight child abuse call centers will be combined into a single office with one set of employees to handle complaints from around Iowa, and rejected complaints will be kept for three years instead of six months.
Watchdogs had called for both a centralized abuse reporting system and longer record keeping after [...]
Iowa foster parents will get about $35 less each month for expenses for the abused or neglected children they care for on behalf of the state.
That could hurt the foster care system, said several Iowans who oversee the Iowa Department of Human Services. The 10 percent across-the-board budget cut Gov. [...]
State offices will be open today, but employees should use their best judgment before deciding to come to work, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver advises.
Culver said if workers believe it’s unsafe to come to work because of the “historic and dangerous storm,” they can choose to take the day off without [...]
Iowa has seen the worst of the recession, but employment won’t begin to grow again until next summer, a team of economic advisors told Gov. Chet Culver today.
“If things go to history, and we have a lot of history, we should see better times starting pretty much right now,” said [...]
State Democrats criticized Republican candidate for governor Christopher Rants by saying his ideas are outdated and unoriginal.
They seem to be trying to use Rants’ own argument against him. Rants has called for Iowans to look to the future, instead of re-electing Republican Terry Branstad, who was governor in the 1980s [...]
State Rep. Phyllis Thede, a Democrat from Bettendorf, won a seat in the Iowa House last year.
Now her husband, Dave Thede, a Republican who recently became a Democrat, is now seeking a seat in the Iowa Senate.
Dave Thede, a 55-year-old teacher, is challenging [...]
Instead of just telling Iowans not to shake a baby in frustration over the infant’s crying, child abuse experts are now stressing that crying is normal.
When babies are born in the metro area, parents will soon get an instruction booklet and a video that explains that healthy babies can cry [...]
Staff in the state auditor’s office must each take six furlough days to meet a 10 percent across-the-board cut ordered by Iowa Gov. Chet Culver.
Auditor David Vaudt told staff that starting in January, each employee will be required to take one day of furlough per month for the remainder of [...]
The results are in on Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s first triathlon: 3:03:27 for an “intermediate distance” triathlon. According to a Des Moines Register analysis, his swim time was very good, his bike time wasn’t bad, and his run time was, frankly, somewhat turtle-like.
But he had a great [...]
About 55 state employees who are members of the Iowa United Professionals will be laid off because leaders of the labor union chose not to accept cuts in pay or benefits.
“We are disappointed that the union chose not to work with us and help save these jobs,” Erin Seidler, a [...]
Democrat Ed O’Neill of Clinton, an economic development leader and community volunteer, intends to run for the Iowa Senate.
O’Neill hopes to replace Sen. Roger Stewart, D-Preston, who decided last week not to pursue re-election in District 13 in November 2010.
The district covers all of' [...]
Iowa utility companies should install more solar electric generating systems and create new jobs here, a state senator says.
Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, set a goal: install at least 7,000 kilowatts of solar electric generating systems over the next five years.
The Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha is getting 17 [...]
Iowa has successfully forced recovery of $4.3 million that pharmaceutical companies have overcharged taxpayers for medications, the attorney general said today. About $1.2 million of that will come directly back to the state.
Eight of 78 companies the state sued in federal court have settled, Attorney General Tom Miller said.
After lawyer [...]
Appel to Seek Re-election to Iowa State Senate
State Senator Staci Appel of Warren County announced today that she is running for re-election to the Iowa Senate in 2010 and will continue to listen and represent our district.
“I am running for re-election to the State Senate so that I can continue [...]
Iowans may be kept in the dark about whether state officials are negotiating new contracts with any labor unions in an effort to avoid layoffs of prison and public safety workers.
Last week, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he expected the unions to tell him by today if they intend to [...]
A spokesman for Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is heading to a new job at the state’s education department and the economic development spokeswoman who had to deal with reporters’ questions on the film tax credit scandal will now speak for Culver.
Culver spokesman Phil Roeder, whose official title is deputy chief [...]
Five employees in the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office got lay-off notices on Friday.
The office, an agency within state government, oversees elections and campaigns, and provides assistance to businesses. It must cut about $321,000 to deal with a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut that Iowa Gov. Chet Culver ordered Oct. [...]
(Here’s the print version of the state budget story.)
At least 180 state workers will be laid off in coming days and more than 3,200 nonunion employees must take seven days off work without pay before June, Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday.
But the fates of employees in the state corrections and [...]
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has approved budget cuts worth $520 million, but he is calling for public safety and corrections to come up with a new way to cut the remaining $45 million without laying off so many workers.
Culver approved 28 departments’ plans as submitted by their director, and modified [...]
Gov. Chet Culver will release at 3 p.m. today his plan for slicing hundreds of millions of dollars from the budgets of 39 state departments and agencies.
One question that is expected to be answered is whether 43 people will be laid off in the Iowa Department of Commerce. Doubts lingered [...]
Salary numbers are either from the directors or from public records from 2008, the most recent immediately available. Gov. Chet Culver’s spokesman Phil Roeder said pay cut amounts will be calculated for department heads and factored into a final budget-cutting plan released Wednesday.
Said they won’t take a cut
PUBLIC DEFENSE: Adj. [...]
Five state department directors said Friday they were still on the fence about taking a 10 percent pay cut for themselves, and two said they had decided against it. But Gov. Chet Culver made it clear that his 36 department leaders have no choice.
“It’s the governor’s position that it’s mandatory,” [...]
Iowa’s governor has authority to move money around in the state budget and should do so to save prison and other public safety jobs, a state Republican leader said Friday.
“He’s got transfer authority, and that’s what he should be doing,” Iowa House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha told reporters. “One [...]
A state audit discovered opportunities for money to go missing at court clerks offices in Iowa, but no evidence that anyone was taking advantage of the lack of proper safeguards.
The auditors found a need for more checks and balances on the money received by the county clerks of district courts, [...]
(Here’s the print version of the main budget cuts story.)
Iowans could see fewer troopers on highways, less treatment for addictions, fewer prison guards, delays in new dental coverage for children, less child abuse prevention work, longer waits for state tax refunds, less aid for college and dozens of other impacts [...]
By CLARK KAUFFMAN
ckauffman@dmreg.com
© 2009, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s voluntary pay cut will be significantly less than what he originally reported.
Earlier this month, Culver said he would reduce his $130,000 annual salary by 10 percent to help address the state’s budget problems.
At the time, Culver’s [...]
Amount cut: $1.9 million
Vacant positions eliminated: 0.6
Layoffs: 7
Total positions cut: 7.6
Thirty companies that sought help expanding trade in foreign markets will see their support cut, under the Iowa Economic Development Department plan.
The business services division says there will be less follow-up with companies interested in expanding or locating operations in [...]
Amount cut: $6.3 million
Vacant positions eliminated: 0.4 full-time equivalent
Layoffs: 0
Total positions cut: 0.4
Total budget after cut: $77.5 million
Percentage from general fund after cut: 73 percent
Percentage from other funds: 27 percent
Explanation: About 90 percent of the cuts would come out of the pockets of thousands of college students and their families [...]
Amount cut for Department of Veterans Affairs: $255,000
Amount cut for Iowa Veterans Home: $1.7 million
Vacant positions eliminated: 11.77 at the veterans home
Layoffs: 2
Total positions eliminated: 2
Total budget after cut: $18.5 million
Explanation: The staff of 950 at the Iowa Veterans Home would reduce overtime by 10 percent. There would be “potential [...]
Amount cut: $145 million
Positions eliminated: 149
Layoffs: 79
Total positions cut: 228
After cuts: $1.292 billion in state general fund money
Total budget: $4.8 billion altogether after cuts
Percentage from general fund: 27 percent
Percentage from other funds: 73 percent
Explanation: This agency would lose 228 positions altogether, the director’s plan says.
Most of them are at juvenile [...]
Cuts: Department on Aging
Amount cut: $495,823
Positions cut: 1, in addition to 3 cut earlier this year
Layoffs: 0
Total budget after cut: $31.4 million
Percentage from general fund after cut: 14 percent
Percentage from other funds: 84 percent
Explanation: There would be no layoffs at the Department on Aging, under the director’s plan.
The agency would [...]
A total of 791 state workers would be laid off and 529 vacant positions would be eliminated under plans suggested by directors of state agencies.
You can find a chart here showing reductions in each department.
Of the state’s 20,488 full-time executive branch employees, the Department of Corrections would be hit [...]
No employees at the Iowa Attorney General’s Office would be laid off in the latest round of budget cuts, but more furloughs would be coming under a plan employees learned about Monday.
The office must cut $860,000 this budget year. That’s its share of the 10 percent across-the-board cut Gov. Chet [...]
It was questionable public policy but a smart political move for Gov. Chet Culver to slash state spending across the board rather than calling a special session of the Legislature, which could make selective trims, according to interviews with Iowa political and business experts.
Republicans, however, predict Culver’s decision will be [...]
Asked if it’s a coincident that his new campaign advertisements began running today, the day Republican Terry Branstad is set to make an announcement, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said the ads are meant to explain his version of why he had to cut the budget 10 percent.
“I didn’t want to [...]
(Here’s the full, print story about Gov. Chet Culver’s discussion of budget issues with Register reporters and editors.)
Even as state agencies deal with the shock of an unprecedented budget cut and layoffs this autumn, a shortfall that could top $1 billion looms for next year’s state budget.
Senate Majority Leader Mike [...]
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he doesn’t regret waiting until October for official budget predictions rather than asking the panel of budget experts to meet this summer.
But at the same time, Culver expressed strong feelings today that those same experts should be meeting more frequently to avoid mistakes.
“Because Iowans are [...]
Even as state agencies deal with the shock of an unprecedented budget cut and layoffs this fall, a shortfall of around $1 billion looms for next year’s state budget.
“I agree with that number, and I hope it’s not worse,” Iowa Gov. Chet Culver told editors and reporters of The Des [...]
(Here is the print version of the story on projected layoffs at DHS.)
From 150 to 400 employees at the Department of Human Services will likely be laid off to meet the state’s 10 percent budget cut, a top official said Wednesday.
Human Services Director Charlie Krogmeier said he’s trying hard to [...]
State lawmakers will see a 10 percent pay cut, and several positions will be eliminated, legislative leaders decided today.
Also, all full-time legislative staff must take six furlough days within the next nine months. This includes all staff in the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, ombudsman’s staff, technology staff and the partisan [...]
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver will cut his salary by 10 percent, as will all department directors, the governor announced today.
The governor’s salary is $130,000. A 10 percent cut would amount to $13,000.
“This national economic recession has meant financial sacrifices for everyone across the state of Iowa, and it should be [...]
As many as 400 full-time employees at the Department of Human Services may face layoffs to meet the 10 percent budget cut, a top official said today.
DHS Director Charlie Krogmeier told members of the Council on Human Services that the worst-case scenario would be 400 workers, but he’s trying very [...]
A proposal to eliminate the jobs of 100 officers and civilians who work within Iowa’s Department of Public Safety drew swift criticism Tuesday from those critical of across-the-board state budget cuts.
Public Safety Commissioner Gene Meyer said in an e-mail to staff that one option for dealing with a 10 percent [...]
Clarinda, Ia. — Part of the argument made Monday for saving the Clarinda Mental Health Institute is that it could help ease the overpopulation of mentally ill people in Iowa’s prisons.
The state has shifted from helping Iowans treat mental illness to locking them up after a crime has been committed, [...]
Hundreds of layoffs are on the horizon for state employees, and the pink slips are likely to appear quickly.
State government leaders were left reeling Thursday by Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s order to immediately whack an unprecedented $565million from the state budget.
“We will start cutting today,” Culver said.
The 10 percent across-the-board [...]
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver today ordered state government to trim about $600 million between now and June 30.
That’s a 10 percent across-the-board cut, effective immediately, he said.
A firestorm of layoffs, program closures and government service shut-downs are likely to follow. The cuts start “today,” Culver said.
The exact number of layoffs [...]
State officials must ax $415million in state spending over the next nine months, the most severe midyear cut in more than 40 years.
It will mean trims and elimination of some government services, and some state employees will face layoffs.
A projected nose dive in tax collections prompted Iowa Gov. Chet Culver [...]
HUMAN SERVICES: Each percent of the spending reduction will mean roughly $12.6 million in cuts for the Department of Human Services, Director Charlie Krogmeier said Wednesday.
If the cut is 8.4 percent, that would equal $105.8 million.
DHS gets about $1.26 billion in state general fund dollars. Medicaid is the largest single [...]
Tax collections will run about 7.1 percent lower than predicted last spring, new projections show, which means steep cuts to state spending are in Iowa’s near future.
A three-member panel of experts called the Revenue Estimating Conference predicts state revenue this budget year will be $5.438 billion.
That’s $414.9 million less than [...]
Federal education officials have determined that Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp. broke the law by incorrectly claiming it was eligible for certain federal subsidies between 2004 and 2006.
It’s the second ruling to come down on Iowa Student Loan in recent weeks.
The U.S. Department of Education on Sept. 16 ordered the [...]
Iowa taxpayers will save about $11 million because of changes the Iowa Department of Human Services has made recently, a spokesman said this morning.
Here’s the full press release:
DHS Program Changes to Save Millions
DES MOINES, Iowa–Department of Human Services Director Charles Krogmeier said Tuesday that recently adopted program changes, such as [...]
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will speak in Des Moines next week at a conference on food and agriculture. His speech will be at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Polk County Convention Center, Room 204.
Here’s the full press release:
The 13th Annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference, From Commodity to Community: [...]
Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp. should be forced to repay the federal government in light of the company’s clear violation of federal law on inducements, one of the nation’s leading experts on the student loan business said Monday.
The company should suffer consequences for its actions even if it means less [...]
Here are more of what Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal told reporters today:
ON THE STATE BUDGET: Asked if across-the-board cuts to state government departments are inevitable later this fall because the recession is squeezing off state tax revenue, he said: “I’d say it is highly likely that within this month [...]
Democrats in the Iowa House today picked two new assistant majority leaders: Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, and Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City.
They fill two open assistant leadership spots, a House Democratic staffer said.
House Democrats made the decision today while they’re huddled in Grinnell for their fall planning caucus.
The two new [...]
Three Democratic state senators have so far announced their intentions to run for re-election.
Nineteen seats held by Democrats in the Iowa Senate are up for grabs in fall 2010.
Sen. Jack Hatch of Des Moines is the latest to state his intentions to keep his seat. He kicked off his campaign [...]
The mental health institute in Independence is the next facility under scrutiny for possible closure.
A task force created by state lawmakers will tour the institution Monday, and take public comments.
Institutions in Cherokee, Clarinda and Mount Pleasant are also being examined as the state eyes ways to save money in a [...]
Iowa Democrats should not try to take out fellow Democrats who have already been elected to public office, a party official said this morning on a taped television show.
“The Iowa Democratic Party does not support primarying,” Iowa Democratic Party chairman Michael Kiernan said on the public television program “Iowa Press.”
A [...]
A Des Moines activist will be one of the judges in a national competition promoting marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
Two citizen speakers will be picked to appear at the podium during the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 10 and 11.
They’ll be judged based on videos they [...]
The latest medical tests show the cancer is still there, so Sen. David Johnson will begin a fourth round of chemotherapy tomorrow.
“It hasn’t changed my plans whatsoever,” said Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan.
He intends to run for re-election to the Iowa Senate in 2010. Former governors Robert [...]
Greater oversight of lobbyists who feed and entertain lawmakers may be needed, a top state lawmaker said today.
But the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee voted 5-0 to take no further action on an ethics complaint against the Iowa Pharmacy Association for filing a lobbying report on a February reception five months [...]
Regardless of one’s party affiliation, Ted Kennedy was known as a leader, Gov. Chet Culver said in a statement this morning.
“This is a very sad day for America,” Culver said. “Ted Kennedy was a kind and gentle public servant who cared passionately about people across the country and around the [...]
The legacy of Ted Kennedy will live on, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said this morning in a written statement.
“The liberal lion no longer roams the halls of Congress, but his legacy remains,” Harkin said.
“We must now rededicate our efforts toward passing legislation to provide robust, quality health insurance coverage for [...]
John Culver and Edward “Ted” Kennedy roomed together at Harvard University, and became lifelong friends.
Both men became U.S. senators – Culver a Democrat from Iowa and Kennedy a Democrat from Massachusetts.
Culver, who is the father of Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, will not grant any interviews today, an assistant said. But [...]
A survey paid for by a Republican political organization finds that if Republican Terry Branstad were to run for governor, he’d beat sitting Democrat Chet Culver, 53 percent to 34 percent.
Culver would beat all other potential Republican candidates, according to results released today from the statewide survey of likely Iowa [...]
